Pet Lover Blog

I found this wonderful little clip today that reminds us all of how wonderful dogs are and how much they enrich our lives. In it, Ben Stein tells why the answer to every problem is a dog. Your dog doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, and all he wants is to love you and be your best friend. No truer words have ever been spoken.

Enjoy this clip while I take some time to hug my dog, Rufus:

I’m not making this up! this adorable dog has figured out how to play the piano and sing along. Here’s the musical pooch’s jazz jam session:

OK, so I was being a bit silly…Cesar Millan, aka The Dog Whisperer, is definitely not dating Lassie. But this photo was taken of them together at the most recent Emmy Awards red carpet. Cesar admitted that it was because of watching Lassie as a boy in Mexico he decided to come to America to become the world’s best dog trainer. I think he’s acheived his goal.

And as for Lassie, it was because of the show Lassie and the book Lad, A Dog that I watched and read as a kid that my family started their life-long love affair with collies. I’m currently sitting with my beloved blue-merle color, 7-month-old collie Rufus as I write this. I truly don’t understand why collies are less popular these days than they used to be, but I will never stop being a collie lover!

I saw this on the news and knew immediately that I had to write about it.

When the family’s house was on fire, this wonderful dog stayed by the side of a box containing four little kittens until someone came to rescue them. What an amazing act of heroism!

It makes me want to cry to see the dog licking the little kittens he saved. Get your tissues ready and watch this:

I know most pet owners were as upset and scared as I was when we first started hearing about the melamine that was in some of the pet foods on the market. And it seemed like every day another brand was being put on the danger list. Cats and dogs were dying from the contaminated foods and all I could think of was what would I do if my pets were eating the bad foods.

I talked to my veterinarian about the foods and started being even more careful about the brands I buy for my boys, but I still have my doubts about what is in the foods. They could be putting anything in the foods…the US government doesn’t regulate the ingredients in pet foods!

I don’t know about you, but I was completely shocked when I found that out. And to prove my point, here’s a recent news item from the CBS early show that explains the problem:

Recently, I heard about an all-natural pet food brand, Addiction Foods. It’s not one of the common brands, and it’s made from meats like kangaroo and venison. They have both cat & dog foods and all of them are made with only natural ingredients. I just had to give them a try.

It made me laugh for a minute when I found out that one of their dog foods is made with the meat of wild kangaroos, but my dog loved it when I gave it to him for the first time. He doesn’t care if kangaroos aren’t even from this hemisphere, he just knows he likes the food.

And my kitty-boys were crazy about the cat food too. To watch them eat it, you would have thought they hadn’t eaten in a week. (Anyone who knows my cats knows that they are definitely NOT underfed!)

I guess until the government decides that pets are as important as people when it comes to food, I’ll have to buy the special brands for my four-legged babies. But to me, they are definitely worth it!

I was thrilled to hear that Cesar Millan (The Dog Whisperer) won an Imagen Award for Best Reality Show recently. He certainly looks very happy in this photo!

His shows are so inspiring for dog owners and help us know that it’s not our dog’s fault, we just need to learn to be better pack leaders. I never miss an episode of The Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel because Cesar is so amazing.

The series just celebrated it’s 100th episode and I was also happily surprised to find out that Cesar’s inspiration for moving from Mexico to America was to become the best dog trainer ever…I think he’s achieved his goal! And he says that he was inspired by watching the old series Lassie. He originally wanted to work as a dog trainer for the show.

I personally loved Lassie myself, having had collies as a child and now owning Rufus, who is also a collie.

I’m also planning to buy a treadmill for Rufus for the cold and icy winter months. I’ve watched Cesar Millan train a number of dogs to walk on a treadmill and feel pretty confident that I can get Rufus to do it too. He absolutely LOVES to please! And he loves our walks! I’ll keep you posted as I teach him, so be sure to stay tuned!

When Barack Obama won the election to be America’s next President, he told his two daughters in his acceptance speech that the family would be getting a dog. The only real restriction was that it would have to be hypoallergenic, since his one daughter is allergic. Now we find out that the family has been doing their homework and has narrowed the pool to the Portugese Water Dog or a Labradoodle. Here’s a clip fro the CBS Early Show where Connie Chen gets to the bottom of the issue and finds out about the two breeds.